So I built my new PC/Editing Box/Gaming Rig. I made updates on my twitter all weekend as I was building it. So here they are:

So the setup is this:AMD Phenom II 1055TGigabyte MB with AM3, USB3, SATA3 (8 ports ), imbeded ATI Radeon HD 4290 (their info said 5870 onboard but my system reports 4290... huh...)8GB of Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz RAM80GB Intel SSD2TB Seagate HDDThermaltake Speedo Case w/ Thermaltake Frio CPU CoolerUltra X4 Modular 750Watt PSUHere's the case before I started taking it apart in order to plug everything in.This is the case after I pulled all the parts out. Lot of components go into the design and air flow of this case. Took a lot of work to put it together, but I think it was worth it.A shot of the back of the case. I love that there are 2 included fans on the back for exhaust. This case is a wet dream for people like me who prefer air cooling.This is one LARGE CPU cooler. Design is really cool. Was a little concerned if it'd fit with the case fan on the side, but it fit. Due to lack of proper directions though I had to reinstall the fan when I realized that the fans were moving air into the case rather then out to the rear exhaust fans. Not good for air flow!This case has this cool clip system on the back of the MB mount in order to facilitate cable management. Those clips come off to expose the cable ties. This is perhaps the best case for cable management I've ever owned. I really like the way it deals with airflow. Coolest PC I've made yet, and I'm not even running the fans at full tilt either Look of the inside of the case after mounting the motherboard. It was at this point I realized the CPU cooler was installed backwards and needed to move it. Should have realized that the logo was meant to be read once I installed the MB, and not upside down.Side view with the clear side and large side fan. It all just barely fits.View of the front of the PC after I put it all together and tested to make sure the front panel connectors were installed correctly.Closeup of the front panel connectors and the cool fin intake system, and the case stickers.View of the PC where it resides next to my desk where my old PC once sat. Yay for BD drive, I can finally rip BDs myself for editing purposes.Another view of Kimiko sitting at my desk. I still have my old mouse/keyboard that I'm gonna replace after my next paycheck when I pick up another 8GB of RAM and the IDEx16 GPU to complete the setup. I like the idea of CrossfireX, and native 3 monitor support Here's the final view of my whole editing setup. Let me explain the setup:Kimiko (new PC) on the left sitting next to my mini-fridge for drinks (which also holds my DJ MIxer that acts as a sound card)Honoka (old PC) under the desk on the right. I will be turning her into a Win2008R2 File server.Natsume (old old PC) is on the desk on the right next to my Mic. She's being tooled into a Ubuntu web/database/ftp server for development.I've got a set of keyboard/mice for each PC on that desk. I'm looking into investing in a USB based KVM that supports DVI to clear up some of the clutter.On top of the hutch I've got my Brother Laser printer and next to it hanging from the rafters is a 2011 Masamune Shirow calendar, something I've been special order from japan for the past few years cuz' I love his artwork. Oh yeah, and a few figures I've picked up at cons, I'm not a big fan of figures but I love picking up the sailor senshi and that one big one was a prize for winning a local AMV contest. And finally there's a 28 port Enterprise Cisco switch (24 10/100 ports and 4 1000 ports) sitting on top of the hutch that the emergency candle is on.

Pffft. All my experience with i7's have been horrible when it comes to heat, power consumption, and pure rendering speed. Sure Sandy Bridge is cool and all, but when I made up the parts list CES was 2 months away. A few parts of that PC my dad picked up as an xmas present, the processor was one of them. I'm a bit of an AMD fanboy when it comes to CPUs anyway. Have been ever since Intel moved away from the PIII (I still have my 1Ghz P3 macheine. It's still a work horse. Though my new PC can encode circles around it...)

Nate, we almost have the same config ..of course with some differences, like I still have 8 Gigs of DDR2 RAM, and have 60 GB OCZ SSD, and as I see you are a Thermaltake fan, while I voted on Coolermaster as for the CPU cooler and for the case. I also like my Corsair modular PSU, piece of cake to connect everything and the power consumption efficiency is much better then my older PSU had. I also very pleased with the Phenom X6 when it comes to render something

luggeriano wrote:Nate, we almost have the same config ..of course with some differences, like I still have 8 Gigs of DDR2 RAM, and have 60 GB OCZ SSD, and as I see you are a Thermaltake fan, while I voted on Coolermaster as for the CPU cooler and for the case. I also like my Corsair modular PSU, piece of cake to connect everything and the power consumption efficiency is much better then my older PSU had. I also very pleased with the Phenom X6 when it comes to render something

My friend Mat-chan (dgstudios) and SailorDeath also have similar setups. I've been wanting an X6 for a while now and after seeing it in action at Youmacon (took SD like 20 secs to render his AMV Wars video) I knew it was the right choice. I love fan cooling, and Thermaltake is the best fan maker I've had experience with. I've run into more problems with coolermaster products in the past. When it comes to PSU's I've always liked the Ultra X series modular design. Been using it for 3 iterations now. I have the original X, X2, and now an X4. Though Ruu-chan has an X3 that works well for her i7 box. Corsair has some good stuff too. I was thinking of going with OCZ for my SSD but after using the Intel SSDs at work (half of our servers now run with Intel SSDs) I decided to splurge a little and pick up the Intel. The only thing I'm sad about is the lack of a GPU, since I'm running into issues with LoL and a few other games, but I should have that rectified after I get paid next week

This is perhaps the most fun I've ever had building a PC. I think the fact that I spent more then I usually do (my normal PC budget is $600) kind of helped in that. I'm hoping this box will work well for me for the next 3~5 years until I have enough bank to build my 4 processor rendering rig